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Bosporans/Strategic Overview
Strengths *Highly variegated and flexible land-based faction, with a focus on early game development and mid-game booming. *Good early-game economic bonuses, especially with regards to food Weaknesses *Extremely weak siege artillery component. *Navy easily outclassed. *Lacks advanced upgrades for Fortification, Healthcare, Influence or Supply . Like many Hellenistic factions, the Bosporan faction enjoys a culturally diverse army, consisting of a Greek core of heavy infantry and noble cavalry, combined with local forces, as well as cultural bonuses reflecting the specialties of the civilisation they built on the lands they have colonised. In this case, however, the Bosporans exemplify themselves by hosting raiding infantry traditions and a cheaper navy, along with food production bonuses thanks to their control of some of the most fertile lands of the known world. Although the Bosporans don't get many cultural bonuses in comparison to say, the Getae or the Seleucids, the cultural bonuses they tend to get are fairly solid and easy to use — cheaper farms and fishing boats make for more food, which is the fuel of your empire. Cheaper ships make for a more powerful navy. Infantry deal extra damage to buildings, which makes them more effective in siege warfare and settlement raiding, which given the awesome power of the Greek heavy infantry component of the Bosporan army, is enhanced further by the addition of the more efficient steppe cavalry traditions of the Sarmatian tribes, making for a strategically flexible and terrifyingly effective land force, thus the Bosporans are highly effective as they are fairly well-rounded as per units. You can either go for an early infantry/light cav rush, or boom and supplment these with cataphracts and heavy infantry. The only issues for concern which must be considered then would be their lack of advanced naval and siege weapons and a dearth of good Supply, Fortification and Influence production upgrades, but even then there are many countermeasures open. Sure, the Bosporans do lack artillery — yet if you can mount an effective cav rush against your opponents' weaker settlements and starve your opponents of land, who needs them? and although the Bosporan navy lacks powerful siege ships, why worry if you have many, many ships? and if your opponent has more effective Forts, and can tech up at the Civic Centre faster, it is pointless if you can muster enough resources in the beginning to limit his ability to expand. For this reason, the Bosporans do well on maps with vast tracts of open land with a limited marine environment, such as Nile Delta and Mare Nostrum ; on others such as the Himalayas, Malta or East Indies , they may suffer greatly. Should you find that you have the Bosporans for your enemy, upgraded defences — forts in particular — shouldn't be neglected. A good faction for hosing the Bosporans is one with good fortification bonuses, such as the Macedonians (dirt-cheap fortresses) or the Getae (more effective fortresses), or one with a good strategic propensity for area denial such as the Numdians and Seleucids. Strong defences and the ability to out-produce the Bosporans are key to trouncing any Bosporan player, especially since the Bosporan player can't access most Supply upgrades, thus making his units very vulnerable to Attrition damage. Category:Bosporans